Rangers' new staff may be piling up first-year coaches, but don't underestimate their ability to make a positive impact

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Texas Rangers' new manager Chris Woodward puts on his jersey with help from General Manager Jon Daniels (left) during a press conference announcing his position at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas on Monday, Nov. 5, 2018. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News)

The Rangers have fallen on hard times, some of it self-inflicted, some of it the natural aging out of a competitive window, but their hires this offseason certainly seem geared toward a long-range vision rather than a short-term turnaround.

The new manager is 42 and has never managed in professional baseball. The new hitting coach, Luis Ortiz, is a first-timer in that role. So, too, is new pitching coach Julio Rangel, whose hiring was announced Friday. That's a whole lot of inexperience. Or a whole lot of potential, depending on the point of view. And when they finish out the coaching staff with pitching and hitting assistants, those may very well be first-timers, too.

Is the theme growth? You bet.

"If you look at this from the outside in, you'd have some concerns maybe," new manager Chris Woodward said Friday. "But as a first-year manager, I can't wait to dig in with these guys. I'm going to bet on these guys being much better in a month and in a year. As will I. We're going to mirror our club.

"We're going to show our players that we are willing to dig in day in and day out and learn along with them. We will set a good example. They will see us grow. And we will expect the same of them."

This is the Rangers' aim. Growth. Steady growth. As has been said in this space before, that isn't likely to translate into many -- or perhaps any -- more wins in the next year. Perhaps not in the next two. They have a mostly young team with raw, unrefined talent. A championship starting rotation is merely a glint in their eyes. The way they have done things in the recent past has not returned results; it's time to change some things.

And so the Rangers are embracing the younger generation of coaches and instructors who have charged ahead in the realm of understanding, interpreting and applying data and statistical-based research. Woodward and Ortiz, who spent five years as a coach in the Rangers' player development system, were last with the Dodgers, a club on the leading-edge of that movement. Daniels was never really thrilled to have lost Ortiz, 48, the first time; he made him the top target for the job this time around. Woodward, who worked with him in Los Angeles, fully endorsed that plan.

Rangel, 43, spent a decade in coaching with Cleveland, an innovator in pitching development, before spending 2018 as the San Francisco's minor league pitching coordinator. The runnerup for the Rangers' position was Cleveland's current minor league pitching coordinator, Ruben Niebla.

In 2018, the Giants hit on perhaps the best minor league free agent pitching signing in baseball: Dereck Rodriguez, son of Pudge. Rodriguez spent the first two months of the season in the minors before joining the Giants and going 6-4 with a 2.81 ERA in 118 innings.

Rangel never pitched above Double-A during his seven-year career, then worked in the banking field for four years before joining Cleveland's organization.

"He's got a unique background," Daniels said. "He's intellectual. He's innovative. He's also worked in mental skills. So he's got a feel for the mechanical side and combines it with the use of more advanced data and technology. But there is also an old-school piece of him at heart. Everybody in our room said he's got an infectious personality and is a big-time connector when it comes to relationships. That is what we are looking for."

In Ortiz and Rangel, yes, the Rangers have hired first-timers for the hitting and pitching coach positions. But they look at them and see youngish instructors but experienced communicators. They see two guys from data-savvy organizations. They see two guys who are bilingual.

They see potential for immediate impact and more significant long-term growth.